CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — Niko Amato’s
expression said it all. How in the world did that go in?

Josh Dionne’s magical turnaround shot that went from turf
to twine in the blink of an eye gave top-seeded Duke a 4-3 halftime
lead over fourth-seeded Maryland and left everyone at Klockner
Stadium in disbelief — including Amato. Dionne scooped up
loose ball in a scrum just outside the crease, and quickly snuck a
low-to-high shot over Amato’s right shoulder with 1.2 seconds
in the second quarter.

Dionne’s ridiculous goal ended up being the difference in
Duke’s 6-5 victory. The teams were otherwise even in
Friday’s ACC Tournament opener. Behind Dionne’s hat
trick, several big saves down the stretch by goalie Dan Wigrizer
and stout team defense, the Blue Devils won their ninth straight
and snapped a three-game skid against Maryland, securing a trip to
Sunday’s conference championship game against North Carolina,
which won the nightcap 11-9 over Virginia.

“Coach [John Danowski] drew up the play, with me in the
middle,” Dionne said, though the end result wasn’t much
like what Danowski anticipated. “It was a scrap, and all week
in practice we've been working on scrapping. We emphasize that
every day. So when the ball is on the ground, I'm going to be
fighting for it. I know everyone else is fighting for it. I was
just fortunate enough to come up with the ball. Another thing we do
in practice is concentrate on knowing where the net is, so I have
full confidence of knowing where the net is when I have my back
turned to it. It just happened to go in.”

Said Maryland coach John Tillman: “The way they play, those
things happen.”

Dionne’s highlight-reel goal was the second of his three
goals on the night, giving him 31 for the season. Don’t look
now, but Dionne is Duke’s leading scorer.

The sophomore attackman has a last name and plays a game that
makes you think he’s Canadian — for his finishing
ability and moves in tight spaces — but he’s from New
Hampshire. Regardless, the lacrosse world is witnessing the
maturation of Dionne. It’s happening right before our
eyes.

“We've been watching the growth of all our players, and
certainly the sophomores,” Danowski said. “Josh, each
week, just continues to get better.”

This was most evident to Danowski on Dionne’s third goal,
after he accepted a pass in transition from Tommy Patterson right
on the doorstep. CJ Costabile hounded Maryland’s faceoff
specialist Curtis Holmes after losing a faceoff, but he forced a
turnover, which Patterson picked up en route to the other end,
where he found Dionne.

He pump-faked high, took the extra step, and finished low.

“We just talked about that goal,” said Danowski, who
preaches “being a ball player” and having high lacrosse
IQ. “We showed that happen in film this week. Against
Virginia, our defenseman Chris Hipps ran down the field and shot
and missed. We talked about how, I noticed Josh. I said, 'Josh, you
did a great job of just being in the right spot. Eventually that's
going to happen.' Josh just reminded me of that conversation
outside. He's just learning how to get to the spots on the field
and then make plans. So I’m very proud of him.”

Danowski described Friday’s game as a “street
fight,” while Tillman opted for “slugfest.” Both
are appropriate. There wasn’t very much offensive production
in 6-on-6 settings. Two of the Terrapins four goals came in
extra-man opportunities — both by senior Mike Chanenchuk, who
hadn’t had a multi-goal games since Feb. 24 — while
Duke scored one on the man-advantage and two others in transition.
Each team took 31 shots, but only 11 goals were scored.

An errant pass gave Maryland the ball back with 1:24 on the clock.
Cummings and fellow senior Drew Snider both got good looks at the
cage, but Wigrizer stood tall. He finished with 10 saves, including
two in the final 20 seconds.

“I love playing when we have under two minutes left, with a
one-goal lead,” Wigrizer said.” You know everything is
going to come down to that. They're going to shoot, you know
they're going to shoot because they're down and there's limited
time left. Don’t get caught off guard, don't worry about how
much time is left. When they're in front of you, you just stay put,
stay relaxed and keep your position, When they shoot, they shoot,
and you try to make the save.”

Tillman called Duke “the hottest team in the country,”
which is hardly debatable after the Blue Devils’ won their
ninth in a row. (He also said Maryland isn’t “too far
behind,” which is true.)

But what might be most impressive is the way Duke has won games
during this stretch, especially the last two. The Devils got up and
down against Virginia, scoring 13 goals in last week’s win,
and they were able to grind out a low-scoring game Friday.

“I'm extremely proud of our team,” Danowski said.
“When you play somebody twice, this game is kind of a
measuring stick of how far you've come in seven weeks. I'm just
very proud of the way they have evolved.”

Carolina’s Offense Clicking on All Cylinders in Nightcap
Victory

North Carolina coach Joe Breschi had his hotel key in his pocket
Friday night. It was a little added motivation for the Tar Heels,
who hadn’t beaten Virginia in nine tries since 2004.

“I told the guys they had to pack the bus up. I said, 'Look,
we're not staying at the hotel unless you win. We're driving back
to Chapel Hill if we lose this game.’”

After third-seeded North Carolina’s 11-9 defeat of
second-seeded Virginia in the nightcap of Friday’s ACC
Tournament doubleheader, the bus isn’t going anywhere. Duke
and North Carolina’s campuses are located about 10 miles on
Rt. 15/501, but the Tobacco Road rivals will meet in
Charlottesville on Sunday.

Marcus Holman totaled a game-high three goals, Joey Sankey added
two goals and three assists, and four other players were in the
scoring column for Carolina, which has now win six of its last
seven. The one loss? A 15-10 defeat at the hands of the Cavaliers
two weeks ago, which has now been avenged.

“It means a lot for guys in this program,” Holman
said. “No one had ever beaten Virginia. It's definitely a
monkey off our back.”

The Wahoos used a 6-0 second-half run to beat the Tar Heels the
last time these teams met. But Friday night, after Holman tied the
game at 4, Carolina dug its heels in. It was 10-7 midway through
the final period.

“Defensively, our plan was to stay nice and tight and force
hands a little bit. Play soft off Stanwick. He's a terrific player.
He's going to get his points regardless of how you play him. But
really try to make the midfielders beat us, moreso than last
game,” Breschi said. “Offensively, just continue
going. We had some great opportunities, particularly in the first
quarter, and we didn't finish. We hit a lot of pipes. But we shot
the ball better, which was great. R.G. Keenan was fantastic at the
X. Any time you have that weapon there, at key moments, when you're
man-down face, he was making plays. I thought we cleared the ball
well. I thought we did some good things. Once we got in after the
first quarter, we started to really take our time with shots and
not settle for the first opportunity but really work the ball for
sometimes lay-ups, which was nice. And we started to can them,
which was nice.”

The offensive performance Friday night was what everyone
envisioned before the season started. It’s why ESPN
play-by-play announcer Eamon McAnaney joked the Heels were the
“Miami Heat of lacrosse.” Returning the core of last
year’s team, adding a host of highly-regarded recruits and
bringing aboard transfers Davey Emala and Greg McBride —
stars on Georgetown and Princeton, respectively — Carolina
looked scary on paper.

It just took time to find the right chemistry. And now, the Heels
are clicking on all cylinders.

“The biggest thing for us was that there was so much
hype,” Breschi said. “For a lot of those guys, the
expectations were poured on top of them, saying: 'This is what
you've got to do. This is how you've got to play. You're going to
be this, that and the other thing.' It's almost like the Sports
Illustrated cover jinx. And our guys just kept fighting, scrapping.
We were 4-2 early, having two tough losses there against very good
teams. We shuffled some things around, and then kind of settled the
fourth quarter of the Duke game on some young guys who just caused
a lot of havoc for defenses. We started scoring goals, and we're in
double-digits in every game since that game. That's been exciting
to see.”

Not so much for Virginia, which has dropped back-to-back games
after enduring a stretch that included contests with Cornell, Johns
Hopkins, Maryland, Duke and North Carolina twice.

“We weren't sharp enough when we needed to be,”
Cavaliers coach Dom Starsia said. “We had chances to score
some goals that we didn't capitalize on. Little mistakes that cost
us at the other end. A couple little things were the things that
made the difference, and in a game like this, that's always going
to be the case. It feels like we're struggling a little bit right
now. We've just got to get it figured out and get to it.”

Virginia had 16 turnovers, including six in the fourth quarter,
but applied pressure in the final minutes. The Cavaliers just
didn’t have enough gas.

Reigning Tewaaraton Award winner Steele Stanwick’s
unassisted score with 6:06 remaining in the third quarter made him
Virginia’s all-time career points leader with 250. He
surpassed the record previously held by Doug Knight.

On a night when Stanwick scored two goals and dished out five
assists — tying him with Gary Gait for 27th on the
NCAA’s all-time points list — it wasn’t
enough.

“Steele happens to be the all-time leading scorer here now,
and one of the best players that's ever played here,” Starsia
said. “But that's just a small part of the person he is. It's
been a real privilege for me to be able to spend this time with
him, and be part of his life over these four years. He's just a
really special kid.”

While Stanwick made history — and there will be time to
reflect on his career accomplishments later — the story
Friday was North Carolina and Duke. They’re both playing
their best lacrosse right now.

“We didn't come up here to beat Virginia,” Holman
said. “We came up here to win a championship.”